


Moments

by yayalovesyou



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Pillow Talk, Rio is a softie, domestic brio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-30 17:06:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18319595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yayalovesyou/pseuds/yayalovesyou
Summary: “So if I just ask for random pieces of information about you, you’ll supply?”Rio put his slice of cake on a paper towel after taking a bite and pondered the question. “Maybe.”“Good to know. I’m gonna hold you to it.”*Five moments in Beth and Rio's relationship where she learns something new about him.





	Moments

**Author's Note:**

> Just realizing that we don't know much about Rio, and that needs to change, like ASAP

“How old are you?”

The question threw Rio. That wasn’t something Rio thought he’d ever heard as a post-coital conversation starter, but he’d bite.

“Why, you think I’m a minor?” Rio quipped, looking at Beth. She was at the top of his bed, wrapped up in his sheets like some sort of Greek goddess. She had a serious look on her face. “I can assure you, you aren’t robbing the cradle.”

“I’m _serious_ ,” Beth said. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-five. Five years younger than you, sweetheart.”

Beth didn’t know why she was so shocked at the answer. Thinking about it, he couldn’t be as... _advanced_ and high ranking in his line of work if he was some young kid. Being in his mid-thirties made sense.

“When’s your birthday?”

“August 1, 1984. Leo the lion, baby.”

“That explains...so much.”

“Are we at the DMV? You want my social security number, too?”

“No, I-“

“You what? What’s with the inquisition?”

“It just dawned on me that I’m sleeping with a guy I don’t really know,” Beth said. “And it’s uncharted territory, so I have some questions.”

They’d been doing this casual sex thing for a few months now and in all their time knowing each other, this encounter was the first time Beth had seen Rio’s house.

It was huge, and actually not far away from where Gregg and Nancy lived, just shy of Oakland County. Different neighborhood, but just as hoity-toity. It was two stories, and she counted at least 4 bedrooms in their haste to rip each other’s clothes off.

Looking around his bedroom, Beth took it in for the first time. It was dark, fitting for Rio’s personality. The walls weren’t full on black, but instead a nice charcoal, that worked well with the very minimal touches of copper scattered throughout the room, from the lamps on the bedside tables to the picture frames.

Rio wasn’t much for furniture. Just the huge California king bed, dresser, and the two bedside tables adorned the room. There was also a large flat-screen television mounted on the wall above his dresser, but that was it. But despite how empty it was, the room still looked nice and managed to feel warm and lived-in.

Rio bit the inside of his cheek and chewed, thinking. Beth had a point, they didn’t really know much about each other. Of course, he knew more about her than she of him, because he made it a point to keep extensive tabs on everyone he worked with.

He knew she was right. To her, he was an enigma. She didn’t know anything about him. It wouldn’t kill him to spare a few details. Besides, how could he say no to her, especially when she was in his bed, _naked_.

“What type of questions?” Rio goaded. He propped himself up by his elbow to get a better look at Beth.

“Are you from Detroit?”

“Born and raised. Grew up in the inner city though, a far cry from this place. What about you?”

Beth nodded. “I thought I’d leave for university, but Dean proposed right out of high school and I ended up taking classes at the local community college.”

“Did you get your associates?”

“Yeah, in English. But I’m the one who’s supposed to be asking questions, not you.”

“Sorry.”

“Tell me about your family, your parents. Any siblings?”

“My dad was murdered when I was 4,” Rio started.

Beth frowned. “I’m sorry.”

Rio shrugged, nonchalant. “He was in the streets, got caught up. It sucks ‘cause he left my mom with 3 kids. I don’t have much memory of him, so I don’t dwell on it too often.”

“So you have siblings?”

“Two older sisters, Isabella and Victoria. My parents were 16 when Is was born, and then they had one every two years afterwards.

“You close to them?”

“Yeah.”

“Either of them as annoying as Annie?”

Rio laughed, a genuine laugh, something that rarely happened. “Nah, no one is that annoying. They’re nosy as hell though, always in my business, asking a billion questions.”

“Nieces and nephews?”

“Two nieces, three nephews.”

“Do they live out here?”

“They live a few minutes away. My mom lives in Birmingham though.”

“Fancy.”

Rio’s features softened as he thought about his mother. “As soon as I started making money, real money, I made it my mission to get her out of Detroit and into the house of her dreams.”

“You sound like a good son. And your face lights up when you talk about her.”

Rio tried to stop the blush from spreading up up his chest and neck by looking away and awkwardly clearing his throat, but it’s no use. Beth notices it instantly.

She doesn’t get the chance to tease him for it though, because seconds later Rio reaches up and yanks his sheet off of her.

“What are you–“

Beth’s question halted in her throat as she felt Rio’s fingers work their way up her thigh.

“Shhhh. No more talking.” She nodded, and before she can respond, his thumb is on her clit and the thought of having a meaningful conversation is out the window.

* * *

Beth found out his last name on a fluke. Marcus is at her house after school one afternoon. Some way, some how, Rio managed to charm her into doing his carpool duties for the day, but she doesn’t mind. Marcus is a sweetheart.

All of the kids are sitting at the island, doing their homework.

“Are you good with math, Miss Beth?” Marcus asks, his tiny voice breaking her out of her thoughts.

“I think I’m pretty good. What’s the problem?”

Marcus slid the paper across the counter. “Number 4.” Beth quickly read the word problem.

“Okay, so if you have 5 bananas,” Beth held up 5 fingers, “and I give you 3 more,” she held up 3 more, “how many is that all together?”

Marcus quietly counted Beth’s fingers in his head. “8?”

“There you go! Good job.”

“Thank you, Miss Beth.”

“You don’t have to call me Miss Beth. Beth is fine all by itself.”

Marcus shook his head. “Daddy says I have to be respectful towards you, and call you that.”

“Oh did he?”

“Yes.”

Beth thought it was sweet that Rio wanted Marcus to show her respect. She didn’t push the issue.

“Well okay. Are there any more problems you need help with?”

“I think I can do it now.”

Beth turned to Jane and Danny, who were also working on homework. “What about you guys? Do you need homework help?”

“No.”

“Alright, when you guys are done, you can help me frost the cake.”

That seemed to get the kids excited because they all put their faces back into their homework.

When they finished, Beth scanned to make sure there were no glaring errors and it was complete. “Marcus, you forgot to put your name at the top of the page.”

Marcus grabbed his pencil and quickly scrawled his name across the top of his paper, as Beth watched.

“Your last name is Alvarez?”

“Yup!”

“And is that your mommy’s last name?”

“Mommy’s last name is Ruiz,” Marcus explained.

“So it’s your daddy’s last name?”

“Yeah, his name is Mario Alvarez, but only _mi abuelita_ calls him Mario. I have to call him daddy.”

“Of course.”

“What’s your last name?” Marcus asked back, following Beth’s line of questioning.

“Boland.”

“Boland,” Marcus repeated, as if he was committing it to memory. “Got it.”

Beth put Marcus’ homework in his backpack. “Okay guys, lets finish the cake. Should we put sprinkles on it or fresh strawberries?“

A few hours later, Rio casually strolled through Beth’s kitchen as she was putting away the dinner dishes. All of the kids were in the living room, watching a movie.

“Hey, mama.”

“Hey.”

“Thanks for watching Marcus. Something came up at the last minute, and I had to personally take care of it.”

“You’re welcome.”

“He wasn’t any trouble, was he?”

“Of course not. He was a perfect angel, so unlike his father.”

“Ha ha.” Rio zeroed in on the chocolate cake and walked over, ready to take a slice.

“I don’t remember offering a slice, Mister Alvarez.”

Rio stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at Beth. “What’d you just call me?”

“Why didn’t I know your last name?”

“You never asked,” Rio replied simply. He resumed his task of cutting himself a slice of cake.

“Or your first name. Mario?”

Rio let out a noise, something akin to a chuckle. “Marcus really told you my whole government name, huh?”

“I didn’t realize it was a huge secret.”

“Only people who trip off of my name are my lawyer and Marcus’ teacher. And like I said, you never asked.”

“So if I just ask for random pieces of information about you, you’ll supply?”

Rio put his slice of cake on a paper towel after taking a bite and pondered the question. “Maybe.”

“Good to know. I’m gonna hold you to it.”

“Sure.” Rio strode to the other side of the island where Beth was standing. He bent down and kissed her, hard, pulling away before she was able to kiss him back. She could taste the chocolate frosting on his lips. “See you around, Elizabeth.”

“Come on, Pop, get your stuff! We gotta go.”

* * *

It’s an early morning, and they’re doing a drop at the diner by Beth’s house. Beth ordered her usual coffee and bagel, while Rio opted for tea.

Beth watched as as he methodically stirred two teaspoons of honey into his teacup and took a sip. He caught her staring.

“Take a picture, sweetheart, it’ll last longer.”

“Why do you put honey in your tea?” Beth asked curiously. “Why not sugar?”

“It’s sweeter. A teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of white sugar are not created equally.”

“Why tea, period? Why not coffee?”

“I don’t want to start shaking in the middle of the day like a crackhead and getting headaches coming down from a caffeine high, which coffee always does. And I like the taste of tea better.”

Beth nodded, accepting the answer. Those were two valid points. “Fair enough.”

“And my abuela drank tea every morning,” he added.

“Oh?”

“She’d have her Lipton tea, honey, and slice of lemon. I wanted to feel grown up, so she let me drink it with her as she was watched her telenovelas and crocheted. It was our thing. I guess I can’t bring myself to break our little tradition.”

Beth smiled at the anecdote. It was the cutest story.

She loved hearing him talk about his family. Despite how tough and dangerous he was, he couldn’t help but become a complete and utter softy when they were brought up.

“That’s really sweet.”

“I don’t _do_ sweet _,”_ Rio snipped, though there was no bite in his tone.

“Yes you do,” Beth argued. “You aren’t a complete psychopathic asshole you pretend to be.”

Rio smirked and raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Don’t tell anyone though. I gotta keep up appearances.”

* * *

They’re laying in her bed, completely wrapped up in each other. It was becoming harder and harder for them to just _leave_ one another after their hookups, and this particular night, Beth asked him to stay. The kids were with Dean and his parents, she was lonely, and Rio looked so exhausted, she told him to sleep over.

He wasn’t a huge cuddler, but he didn’t complain as Beth ran her hands across his chest and stomach, tracing the hard lines of his muscles. It was actually lulling him to sleep.

She ran across a scar she hadn’t paid much attention to. It looked old, years old, but the scar still lingered on the lower left side of his stomach. She gently touched it. “What’s the story here?”

Rio opened his eyes and looked down at Beth. “Hmmm?”

“This scar. How’d you get it?”

“I got it when I was 16. Drug deal gone bad, the guy tried to cheat me and before I could react, he had a knife on me. I ended up in the hospital for three days.”

“Oh my God.”

“It’s fine now. And it could’ve been worse. I hardly notice it these days.”

“So you’ve been doing this since you were 16?” Beth prodded.

“Since I was 14,” Rio clarified. “My mom was busting her ass working 16 hour days, Bella was stressing about paying for college, so I had to step up. I was little and unsuspecting, so cops barely looked my way of they saw me on the street. Moved everything from dime bags to coke to pills. I was making more money than I knew what to do with, started building my own connections, recruiting my own people. I wasn’t even gang affiliated, I was just a kid tryna make some money. The local gang didn’t like that though, they didn’t want me on their territory. So I had to get smarter.”

“You flipped your game?”

“I flipped my game. I started buying legit businesses too once I was making good money. And now I’m at the top of the food chain, washing Monopoly money while everyone at the bottom is scrambling for dime bags.”

Beth absentmindedly traced Rio’s scar again. “How’d your mom react? To you being in the streets?”

“She hated it. We fought like crazy, she threatened to kick me out on more than one occasion. It was the life that killed my dad, she didn’t want that for me. But I was paying bills, I was paying for my sister’s tuition at Michigan State, so there wasn’t much she could say.“

“You have legit money now too, legit businesses. You ever think about quitting?”

“Not anytime soon, no.” Beth nodded, appreciating the honesty.

“Okay.”

“She’d like you.”

“Huh?”

“My mom,” Rio said. “She’d like you. My sisters too.”

Beth tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach that were fluttering around at the implication of potentially meeting Rio’s family.

“You gonna let me meet them one day?” She asked, tilting her head up to look at him in the eye. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips.

“You want to meet them?” Rio asked back.

“Yeah.”

“Then you can meet them,” Rio said, definitively.

* * *

Rio isn’t just a major foodie, he can actually cook too. Not, throwing a Stouffer’s lasagna in the oven type of cooking, but the real deal. 

It was a quiet Friday night, her kids were with Dean, and Rio was in her kitchen cooking for her. She was always the one cooking for him, so she couldn't help but be amused and curious when he offered to make her something for once, but she definitely wasn't expecting the level of professionalism he was exhibiting. Rio was moving around her kitchen effortlessly, like he was on an episode of Chopped.

“I know you said I couldn’t help, but can I at least know what you’re making?” Beth asked.

“Smothered lamb chops, garlic mashed potatoes, and pan-seared asparagus,” Rio explained. He smirked when he saw Beth’s jaw drop. “What?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were Bobby Flay.”

“Oh, I think I’m better than him sweetheart.”

“Well it smells amazing in here.”

“Thank you.”

“Can I taste test something?”

“No.”

“Come on!”

“You have zero patience, Red. It’ll be done in a few minutes.”

Beth didn’t reply. She just sat back, grabbed her wine glass and watched Rio cook. He was such a perfectionist. Everything was perfectly measured, cheeses were finely grated, vegetables chopped with master precision.

“How are you so good at this?” Beth questioned.

“I’m good at everything.”

“Seriously. You're a good cook. In another life, you'd probably be a student at Le Cordon Bleu.”

“I grew up in a house with four women.Learning how to cook was pretty much inevitable. My mom didn’t accept me not pulling my weight.”

“But you’re so passionate about it. It goes beyond you cooking and eating for survival.”

Rio shrugged. “I don’t know, I just love good food. The cultures, the stories, the history, all of it. It all culminates in whatever you put on the table.”

Beth stared at him with rapt attention as he talked. Who _was_ this guy? “That’s a good way to put it.”

“If you think I’m good, you gotta try my mom’s cooking.“

“Well if she’s anything like you, I’m sure I’ll love it.”

“Speaking of my mom, you free next Saturday?”

“I don’t have any plans. Why?”

“I was going to go see her and she wants me to bring you. My sister’s are going to be there too.”

“Really?”

“You said you wanted to meet them, right?”

“Right, but that was last week. I wasn’t expecting you to set up a meeting so soon.”

“They’re excited and pushy, and they wanna meet my girl.”

Beth nearly choked on her own saliva at Rio’s words. She was his _girl_? They had done a pretty good job at not labeling what they were, but he just dropped a bomb in her lap.

Was it official now? Were they a thing?

“I’m your _girl_ now?” Beth asked, trying to keep her tone as light and breezy as she possibly could.

Rio stopped cooking and froze, as if he just realized what he said. It was a Freudian slip.

He walked over to where Beth was sitting, stopping right in front of her. “I mean, I think it stopped being casual sex among business partners a long time ago. You filed for divorce months ago, we spend time with each other’s kids, I'm here damn near every single day, you want to meet my family. Hell, you’ve made me reveal more about myself than even Carlos knows, and we practically grew up together.”

“So what are you saying?” Beth challenged, looking Rio right in the eyes. Her heart was practically hammering in her chest.

“I’m saying you’re _mine_ , Elizabeth. You always have been.”

She reached up to cup Rio’s cheek. “Really?”

“Really.”

Beth pulled Rio closer and gently kissed him, keeping one hand on his cheek while the other snaked its way around his neck. He responded by deepening the kiss, threading his fingers through her strawberry blonde hair. She didn't even care that he smelled like raw garlic and his fingers were sticky from grating cheese.

The only thing that broke them out of the kiss was the sound of the timer going off on the stove. Rio leaned forward and pressed a warm kiss to Beth’s forehead. “I’m all in if you are.”

Beth’s heart clenched at the vulnerability in his voice. She didn’t think it was possible for him to sound so soft.

“Good. Because you’re mine as well.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


End file.
